The Gumball Machine

A few weeks back I helped my friend Suzy with a booth at a flea market in Cave Creek.  We loaded up a U-Haul with a bunch of stuff that she wanted out of her house and garage.  I managed to score this for myself:

That sucker is SOLID metal!  I've always wanted one, and based on what I've seen on Instagram, they're kind of trendy right now painted in fun colors.  It was dirty from being in the garage so long, so I had to clean it first.

Then I realized the insides were kinda rusty, so I took it apart to clean those.

HOLY CRAP.  This was a serious project, with lots of teeny parts.  It took me about a week of working on it here and there to get it done.  I had parts laid out on the bar of my kitchen so I wouldn't forget how they went back together.  There was rusty dust all over my bathroom from where I was sanding and cleaning the pieces.  I took photos on my phone to keep me on track and even still some parts took a few tries to reassemble so that they would still work!

After everything was cleaned, oiled, and reassembled, I painted the stand and machine itself.  I decided to go with a bright apple green for the machine, and so as to not overwhelm, painted the stand oil rubbed bronze.

I love how it came out!  It looks so happy now in my entry and the green is so much more me than the red ever could be.

We filled it with Skittles for the big game on Sunday.

Of course.  ;)